Believe it or not, you can still excel in graduate school even if you have a job on the side. Of course, you need to practice proper time management to be able to finish everything at its right time. First off, you need to know if you really want to go through graduate school. Then, take a part-time course only if it is absolute necessary, such as in cases when nobody else will pay for your tuition other than yourself.
Get organized
If both your priorities and your time are in order, life in graduate school for a part-time employee like you will go much more smoothly. For your stuff, make sure that you do not have a messy study area where you still have to hunt for a handout or a textbook. For time, you need to keep an updated calendar or date book, where you can write all your schedules. Make sure that you have properly marked the things to do and things that have already been done. Also, it would help if you identify the things that need to be prioritized so that you do them first.
Do not procrastinate
If you wait for the last minute to do your work, you will end up swamped with things to do. So, better perform on schedule. The time you have wasted in doing nothing substantial further removes time from your already cramped schedule.
Be flexible
If schedule changes cannot be helped, do not panic. Anticipate possible emergencies, distractions, and even illness. So, it is really important to avoid procrastination; you never know what may happen tomorrow, so do what you can today. If you work part-time, you may want to put in extra hours in your job so that you’ll have fewer working hours on those critical school days.
Know your limitations
Even though time management helps, work overload can make you sick or so stressed out that you can no longer function. So, learn how to refuse activities that will not really benefit your studies or your job. Though those activities may sound fun, or maybe even noble, you have to think about your health as well. Refusing some of these activities allows you to have valuable free time for rest and recreation.
Photo Credit : FABIOLA MEDEIROS
